In many developing economic regions such as China, India, and Brazil, smaller commercial and residential buildings often employ discrete air conditioner units, sometimes referred as split air conditioner units, to control the environmental conditions within the building. Larger buildings may have multiple discrete air conditioner units located in different spaces or zones within the building. These discrete air conditioner units are often mounted in a wall, window, or ceiling of the building. The discrete air conditioner units are typically manually controlled by the user, sometimes with the aid of an RF remote control device. However, having individual users manually control the various discrete air conditioner units in a building can be energy inefficient, particularly when the users do not turn the air conditioner units to a more energy efficient setting when the building or zone is unoccupied.